The Day The Skyline Changed
by theladyinblue
Summary: PostRENT You never know how much you have unless you almost lose it. Pairings: MaureenJoanne. please R
1. Good Morning

**The Day the Skyline changed**

**Summary: How our favorite bohemians deal with a day that changed New York Forever. Pairings: Maureen/Joanne **

**I Don't own RENT…Jonathan Larson does**

**Chapter One: Good Morning**

**Joanne's POV**

The morning started as any other typical morning in the Johnson-Jefferson household. As usual, I was the first one to wake-up because I was leaving for work early this morning. I had a meeting in lower Manhattan at 8: 15 and I needed to stop at my office to pick up the client's file. I got up quietly not wanting to wake Maureen and I got ready to go pretty quickly and headed out the door and to the office. I stopped at Starbucks to get some coffee and then headed to my office. Once I got up to my office, I picked up the file and then paused to look at the family picture that was on my desk. It had been taken a few months ago by Mark when he and Abby came over for Megan's 5th birthday. Megan was Maureen's and my youngest daughter. We had two other girls- Rachel and Katie. Rachel was eight and Katie was six. If anyone had told me that this was what my life was going to be like: having three kids and being married to Maureen, I would have laughed them off, but now I couldn't be happier. With a glance at my watch, I could tell I was going to be late if I didn't get a move on, so I picked up the phone and called the apartment. Rachel answered the phone and told me that Maureen was in the shower , I told her to say hi for me and to tell Maureen not to call back since I was going to be in a meeting anyway. I would catch up with her later….or so I thought

**Maureen's POV**

"Wakeup! Wakeup!" Megan .Oh well, so much for sleeping in, I thought to myself. I opened my eyes to see Megan sitting on my bed poking me.

"I'm up, I'm up" I mumbled as I got up and put on my bathrobe. I sleepily walked out into the hallway and then told Megan to go wake her sisters while I took a shower. I guess it worked because five minutes later I could hear the girls arguing about who was going to be first in the bathroom. _Thank God we got an apartment with two bathrooms_ I thought to myself happily. A second later I heard the main bathroom's door close, a sign that they had stopped arguing.

By the time the girls were ready for breakfast, I was already dressed and ready to go. We had a quick breakfast and then it was off to school. Joanne had decided that the girls were going to go to Montessori school, so we had them in this school near Battery Park. It was a good school; the only problem was that it was far from where we live so we have to take the subway each morning. Finally, we got to the school and I dropped each of the girls off at their respective classrooms. I ran into my friend Kate on the way out of the school and we decided to go out for a cup of coffee. Since it was such a nice day, we decided to sit outside and have our coffee. As we sipped our drinks, we discussed our daughters, and our plans for the day. Little did I know of what was to come.


	2. Too Low

**Too Low**

**Thanks for all of the reviews. Keep on reading guys!**

**Too Low**

**Joanne's POV **

By now, my meeting had been going on for a good twenty five minutes. It was a typical meeting, nothing strange or unusual had happened. Until, we felt the building rumble. It sounded as if something had hit it. No one seemed to worry, after all, it was the World Trade center and from what I heard, it could withstand the impact of a 747 hitting it. Suddenly, we heard the emergency speaker system go off. I knew then that something major had happened. I immediately grabbed my briefcase and headed for the emergency stairs so that I could get to safety. But before I could get there, an older woman asked me where the stairs were. It hit me then that a lot of people were going to need help to get to the stairs. I couldn't just run off and leave them here. So, I put my briefcase down and volunteered to help direct people to the exits. It was to be both the best and worst decision I would make that day.

**Maureen's POV**

Kate and I had been sitting on a bench at Battery Park sipping our coffees and chatting for a while now and I was pretty caught up in the moment until I saw a plane flying very low and right toward the World Trade Center.

"Isn't that plane flying too low" I asked Kate

"It is unusual" she began

But before she could finish her sentence, the plane that we saw hit one of the World Trade Center buildings.

"Oh my god" I gasped

Kate was so shocked that she couldn't get a word out and I had dropped my coffee in shock. _What had just happened? _


	3. Now or Never

**Thanks for all of the reviews. I will try to make the chapters longer.**

**Now on with the show…**

**Now Or Never**

**Maureen's POV **

My hands were still shaking, I could not believe what I had just seen happen. After I had come to my senses and the shock had worn off a little, I decided to go pick up the girls from school. I figured that the school was going to close any way and I wanted to get the girls home before the situation would get worse. So Kate and I headed to the school. Apparently we were not the only parents with the same idea because I could see a lot of other children leaving as well. I was not sure that the girls could handle seeing the world trade center the way it was so we walked fast and I managed to distract them and keep them from looking back at the buildings. That worked until Rachel saw her friend from school and turned around to say hi. I could see her jaw drop and her lip start quivering at the sight of the burning building and I immediately ran to comfort her. Obviously, this had caused Katie and Megan to look back so now I had three very frightened little girls on my hands. Suddenly I heard someone call my name. It was Rich, Joanne's co-worker and our family friend. Joanne had helped Rich a lot after he decided to come out and he and his boyfriend had become friends with Joanne and me.

"Do you need a hand" he asked, seeing me try to comfort the girls.

"I'm good" I responded

"Have you heard from Joanne by the way, she told me she had a meeting today but she didn't say where" I said

"Listen, can I answer that question after we get to your place" he responded

I wondered why he would not say anything now but I decided that I could wait until I got home. Rich told me that the subway had been shut down because of the accident and that he was going to help me get a cab. In the cab, I tried calling Joanne's cell phone to see if she was alright but all I got was her voice mail. I left a message telling her to call me as soon as she got this message. When we got home, I told the girls to go to their rooms and play and then I sat down on the couch next to Rich.

"Do you want to tell me now where Joanne is?" I asked him impatiently

"She had a meeting today in the north tower of the world trade center" he responded

For once in my life I was speechless and more terrified then ever. _JOANNE!_

**Joanne's POV**

By now almost a half hour had passed from the time I agreed to stay behind. The floor that I was on was almost deserted but there were still some people left that needed help. Bill, the other lawyer who had agreed to help people escape, had been trying to convince me to leave the building. I had been stubborn at first but now that the situation had become graver and we knew that what had happened wasn't an accident, I was beginning to see his point.

"Go now before it's too late, I'll be fine on my own" he told me

"I know what I'm doing and I'm aware that it's dangerous" I responded

"Damm it Joanne be reasonable, all those people above us are trapped, they have no choice. You do. Take it before it is too late. Leave now" he said

He was right, it was now or never, I had to make my escape.

I pulled off my coat and grabbed my briefcase and then shook Bill's hand.

"Good Luck to you" I said

"And to you" he replied

There were 56 floors between me and safety and there wasn't much time. I took a deep breath and started walking down the stairs hoping and praying that I would get to safety and soon.


	4. Help from an Angel

**Thanks for all of the reviews**

**Now On with show…**

**Help from an Angel **

**Joanne's POV**

By now, some time had passed since I started down the stairs. I was running down the stairs two steps at a time trying to get out of the building as soon as I could. At about the 30th floor, I ran into an older woman who was having a hard time getting down the stairs. She was walking slowly and her breathing sounded labored. I decided to give her a hand after all I couldn't leave her there.

"Are you ok?" I asked her

She assured me that she was fine but I wasn't buying it so I decided to start a conversation with her hoping that it would make the time go by faster for her and for me. She said her name was Sarah Hanley and that she had worked at the World Trade Center for 20 years. She had two grown sons that she was proud of and that she liked talking about. I told her about Maureen and the girls and some how I got around to talking about Angel and the rest of my friends. The conversation worked to make time go faster because we finally managed to make it to the ground floor. I was sweating and exhausted and my feet were killing me. But I had almost made it to safety. What I wasn't prepared for was what I saw when I made it outside. There were bodies on the ground and debris from the buildings and just general chaos. Just as the policeman came to lead me away from the buildings, there was a deafening crash and then silence. When I opened my eyes again I could see that I was trapped in the rubble. I couldn't feel anything except the searing pain in my legs. Suddenly I could hear someone talking to me and it sounded like Angel. _This is crazy, Angel cannot be talking to me, she's been dead for eleven years. _Angel looked perfectly serene and healthy like she had never had AIDS.

"Chica, you can't die yet, you've got too much to live for" she said

"I can't" I gasped, the pain becoming unbearable

"Don't give up Joanne. Maureen and those beautiful daughters of yours need you. Don't give up." I could hear her saying as her voice faded out. I slowly opened my eyes again and with whatever strength I had left, I tried to stick my hand up through the rubble and I started shouting for help. My cries were answered by two firefighters who moved me onto a back board. I was finally safe and on my way to the hospital and I thanked god for that. Angel had saved Mimi once and now she came back and saved me.

**Maureen's POV**

After the shock of finding out where Joanne was wore off, I concentrated on the girls. I told them what had happened and let them ask questions. The hardest question to answer was where is Momma? (Joanne), I didn't want to have them frightened so I told them that she was trying to get home. I tried calling Joanne's cell phone again but all I got was her voice mall. I hadn't actually spoken to her or seen her since last night because I was asleep when she left this morning. I missed her and was beside myself with worry. At about 1: 30 in the afternoon, I got a phone call from St. Vincent's saying that Joanne was in the emergency room there. As soon as I hung up the phone, I felt a huge wave of relief come over my body. She was alive and she was asking for me. _It was going to be ok. _


	5. Lucky

**Thanks for all of the reviews. Happy tenth anniversary RENT!**

**Now on with the show…**

**Lucky **

**Maureen's POV**

After I got the call from the hospital, I called Caryn, the girls' babysitter, to ask her to come over to watch the girls. While, I waited for Caryn to arrive, I decided to tell the girls about what had happened to Joanne. They had been watching cartoons on the TV in Joanne's and my bedroom, and were currently sitting on our bed and laughing at some cartoon creature on TV when I walked in.

"Girls can we talk?" I asked them

Rachel immediately turned off the TV and sat down next to Katie and Megan.

"You know how the bad men bombed the towers today? " I asked the girls. They nodded as I continued. "Momma was in one of those towers today, but she is ok. I just received a call from the hospital and they are going to make her better."

"Can we see her?" asked a very scared sounding Megan

"Not yet, mommy hasn't even seen her yet." I responded

We talked for a while until Caryn arrived and then I finally left for the hospital.

I didn't know what to expect when I walked in to the emergency room and asked the nurse at the front desk if I could see Joanne. She led me through the emergency room toward the cubicle where Joanne was. I held back tears as I saw Joanne. She was lying on a gurney, her clothing covered in dust, blood and sweat, cringing in pain. I pulled up a chair and sat down by her head and took her hand in mine and tried to comfort her best I could.

"It hurts Maureen" she moaned

"What hurts baby?" I asked her softly

"Everything" she said

Just then the doctor walked in to talk to us, he explained that Joanne had two broken legs, a broken arm and had three cracked ribs.

"She'll need to stay here for at least a week or so" said the doctor

" I also want to know if you would like some morphine to help you with the pain , Joanne" asked the doctor

She said yes to the morphine and soon the nurse came and escorted us to Joanne's room. It was a two person room but she was the only person there at the moment. The room was less dreary then the hospital rooms where Angel, Collins, Mimi and Roger had died but it was still the hospital and I still hated it. I helped Joanne change into a hospital gown and then she was taken to get casts on her legs and arm. While she was away, I called her parents to let them know what had happened and I called Mark to let him know that Joanne was safe and that we were okay. Mark had gotten a job in New Mexico as a cameraman and he lived there now with his wife Abby and their daughter Kylie. Mark sounded concerned and asked if he should fly down to New York to help me. I told him that we were fine and that I would keep in touch and call him if anything came up.

By the time, I got off the phone; Joanne was being brought back to her room. I watched as the nurse put Joanne' s legs up in traction and hooked her up to the IV that would deliver the morphine. After the nurse left, I got up from my chair and lay down next to Joanne on the bed and wrapped my arms around her. She put her head on my chest and started crying. Through her tears, she told me everything she had gone through today and I tried to comfort her by gently rocking her in my arms and kept repeating that she was safe and ok. I started to sing her my old protest song _Over the Moon _to try to calm her down as if she was one of the girls and had woken up after a nightmare. Finally, she fell asleep and I got up to go and get something to eat. When I got back, Joanne was awake again and was also hungry, so I went to the nurse's station to see if it was ok for Joanne to eat. They said it was ok just as long as the food wasn't heavy, so I went and bought Joanne some chicken noodle soup in the cafeteria. While she ate, I told her about the girls and told her that they send their love and that her parents said hello and would be around to see her. I also told her that Mark said hi and he wished her well. She wanted to call her parents so I brought the phone over and put it on her tray table. Since she had broken her right arm, I dialed the phone for her and handed her the phone. She talked with her parents for a while, repeatedly reassuring them that she was fine. After she got off the phone, I lay down next to her on the bed and we watched TV and talked for the rest of the afternoon. At about six in the evening, dinner was served and the nurse came around to say that visiting hours were over at eight and that she thought that Joanne was in better sprits then she had been earlier. After Joanne ate dinner, she insisted on calling the girls and telling them personally that she was ok. She seemed happy to talk to them and had a big smile on her face when she hung up the phone. I left the hospital at about seven thirty finally feeling some sense of relief after what had been the longest day of Joanne's and my life.


	6. Nightmares

**Thanks for all of the reviews. There is still a lot of drama to come in this story so stay tuned. **

**Nightmares**

Joanne's POV

After Maureen went home, I tried to sleep but I couldn't. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see those two burning buildings in front of me and I could hear all of the people shouting for help. I thought about Sarah, the woman who I had helped down the stairs, was she dead, Alive? That was a hard question to answer since she had been right near me when the towers fell and I had been in so much pain afterward that I didn't think to ask about her. I shuddered to think that I was near a dead woman the whole time in the rubble but I knew that it was a possibility. I made a mental note to ask about her when I got out of the hospital. After a while of tossing and turning, I finally fell asleep. This peace wouldn't last for long because I started seeing those buildings again and hearing the screams for help and seeing all of the doomed people jumping out of the windows. That is when I completely lost it, screaming and crying. The nurses must have heard me because they came rushing into my room and one of them mentioned Maureen's name. Suddenly, the doctor walked in with a syringe and gave me an injection of some sort. The next thing I knew, I was waking up with a weird headache and I saw that Maureen was asleep next to me. I wondered what had happened and how she had gotten there. I was completely out of it, not remembering a thing that had happened the night before. Suddenly, I heard Maureen stirring and saw her eyes open.

"Baby, what are you doing here?" I asked her

"Don't you remember what happened last night? You must have scared the hell out of everyone here including me. You were screaming and crying in your sleep and they couldn't calm you so the doctor had to give you a sedative injection."

"When did you get here?" I wanted to know

"The hospital called me at about 3 this morning asking me to come down here" Maureen said.

I asked her about where the girls were and she said they were sleeping over at Ellie's house. Ellie was Katie's friend who lived in our building. I thanked Maureen for coming to the hospital at that ungodly hour and then we fell back to sleep in each other's arms.

Maureen's POV

I had been terrified when I got the phone call at three in the morning saying that there was a problem with Joanne and could I please come to the hospital. The last time I had a phone call that late at night was when Mimi had died.

"_Roger what is it" why are you calling this late. What happened?" a very sleepy Joanne asked Roger. "She's gone, Mimi's gone" Roger said tearfully. There was silence for a whole minute before Joanne could say that she and I would be there as soon as possible. _

That was what those late night phone calls meant to me and what I was expecting to find when I got to the hospital. I tried to suppress those thoughts while I woke up the girls and brought them to Ellie's apartment. Luckily her mother was a friend of ours and didn't mind the late night interruption. When I got to the hospital I was relived to know that Joanne was very much alive but I had never seen her in the state that she was in. After I had tried and failed to calm her down, the doctor suggested giving her a sedative injection. After the injection, she had calmed down enough to go back to sleep.

Now, it was morning and she had finally woken up and had woken me in the process. She wanted to know what had happened, so I explained everything to her but she didn't seem to recall any of it happening. The doctor had warned me that temporary memory loss would be a side effect of the injection and now I was beginning to see it. I decided to call Ellie's apartment to check on my girls and was not surprised to find out that the school was closed today and that Megan's asthma was worse. I decided to leave Joanne's side for a while to go and pick up the girls and bring them here. I figured Joanne would want to see the girls and it would also help to keep her mind away from what happened yesterday. The girls seemed happy to see me yet worried for Joanne at the same time. We stopped at our apartment before heading to the hospital and the girls changed and ate breakfast. While they ate, I went down the hall to Joanne's and my bedroom and got a few things for Joanne. I got her pillow and a pair of her pajamas and a couple of photos. One was a picture of Joanne and I with our girls and the other was a picture of our little family on New Year's Eve 1990. Then I headed down to the medicine cabinet and grabbed a surgical mask for Megan to wear on her way to the hospital so she could breathe better. Finally after I had given Megan her medicine and checked that everyone else was ready we left for the hospital. Joanne could not have looked happier to see us and the girls seemed happy to see her as well. She also seemed happy to have the few things from home that I brought her and she immediately wanted to change out of her hospital gown into her own pajamas. After she had changed and was settled back in the bed, she told me that she would watch the girls and that I should go home and relax.

"Go on home and relax, Maureen. We will be fine. Won't we ladies?" she said

The girls agreed, so I went home leaving the girls sitting on Joanne's bed watching a cartoon. I decided that I needed to pay a few people a visit before I went home. I had the cab driver wait for me on the roadway in the cemetery while I went to visit my friend's graves. They were all buried side by side on a hill overlooking the city. I started crying then and wished they were there to help me and support me. I wondered what Angel would have said about what had happened yesterday since she always seemed to think that New York was going downhill. I wished I could have talked to them now because I needed them more then ever. I realized I was keeping the cab waiting so I dried my eyes and made my way back to the cab to go home. Just as the cab pulled up to my apartment building, my cell phone rang. I could hear a panicky Joanne on the other end of the line.

"Maureen, it's Megan, she's gone into an asthma attack and it's a bad one. The worst yet. We need you here as soon as possible"

_Not again _I thought as I told the driver to take me back to the hospital. _Angel HELP! _


	7. The Calm after the storm

**Calm After the storm**

**Thanks for all of the reviews! Sorry about the long wait. You can expect possibly quicker updates now that I am on my summer break. Thanks for reading! **

**On With the show…**

**Maureen's POV**

The cab ride to the hospital must have been the longest fifteen minutes of my life. This wasn't the first time we had a scare with Megan's asthma but I was still terrified. I was exhausted and overwhelmed; the past few days had been the longest and worst of my life. I had gotten one miracle with Joanne and now I prayed to whoever spared Joanne to spare Megan as well. When I got to the hospital, I asked the nurse at the ER where Megan was and was told that she was on outpatient status and was with her mother in one of the many cubicles in the ER. I found Megan and Joanne pretty quickly and to my relief Megan seemed to be better. Joanne was sitting next to her bed in a wheelchair quietly telling her a story. When Joanne saw me, she said that she had things under control and that I should get some rest. I pulled up a chair and sat down next to Joanne and put my head on her shoulder. She said that the asthma attack had been really bad at first but as soon as they hooked Megan up to the medicine, she started clearing up. Then Megan spoke up, I giggled a little because her voice sounded funny under the mask that she had been wearing that had been delivering her medicine. She asked us to tell her the story of how she had been born. Joanne began telling the story of how we already had two children and she didn't want another and how I secretly had a procedure done to get pregnant again. Joanne was furious at me for days but she eventually got used to the idea and by the time Megan was born, she was as crazy about her as I was. By the time Joanne finished her story, I had fallen asleep with my head on her shoulder. She shook me awake and then firmly told me to go home, that I didn't need to be running myself ragged. So, I picked up the other two girls and we finally headed home. We stopped at McDonalds on the way home to get dinner, I never let the kids eat there but today I was too exhausted to argue with them. When we arrived at the apartment, Rachel and Katie went to eat and I took Megan to her room to get her settled and then brought her dinner on a tray and then finally went to my bedroom and crashed on the bed.

**Joanne's POV**

After Maureen and the girls had gone home, I made my way to the elevator to go back to my room. I was surprised to find my parents waiting for me in my room. My father and a nurse helped me back into bed and then the nurse propped my legs up on the pillows. After the nurse had left the room, my parents began asking me lot of questions to the point I felt as if we were in court and I was a witness that they were questioning. I finally put an end to this game of twenty questions by saying that I was tired and wanted to rest which was partly the truth. My mother then asked if Maureen needed any help with the children, I told her to stop over at the apartment and just visit with the girls and not to call Maureen. The poor thing was probably resting and I didn't want anyone bothering her with unnecessary phone calls. My parent stayed for a while and we talked while I ate my dinner. They finally left at seven thirty and I turned the TV on and put on my favorite channel CNN. I immediately regretted that decision because the network was still covering the terrorist attacks and the moment I got to the channel they were showing footage of the world trade center collapse. I quickly changed the channel over to one of the other news networks but it was all the same, all they talked about were the terror attacks and I didn't want to hear about them. I clicked over to the channel Maureen always liked, TVLAND. Ironically, they happened to be playing an episode of The Jeffersons. When I was a kid, I used to think that the TV Jeffersons and my family were related and George and Louise became imaginary cousins to me. I relaxed and watched old comedy shows until it was time for lights out. The next morning the doctor came to see me with some very good news. He said that I was healing faster then he thought and that if all went well, I could go home in the next two days. Maureen came to see me later in the day and I told her the good news. She was thrilled and we spent the afternoon slowly walking around in the hallways so that I could learn to use my crutches. Maureen left around supper time and returned with Katie and Rachel (Megan was at home with my mother). She also brought me another surprise: a bucket of fried chicken from KFC which was a great relief after 4 days of disgusting hospital food. We ate dinner together and then watched cartoons for a while before Maureen and the kids left. I fell asleep feeling happy for the first time since the eleventh. _I was going home. Finally_

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	8. A New Normal

Thanks for the reviews!

**A New Normal**

**Maureen's POV**

Joanne was coming home, I couldn't believe it. Finally, things could be back to normal in our family. While Joanne stayed in the hospital learning to walk with crutches and getting physical therapy, I decided that I was going to do something special for her this Christmas. I was going to throw her a party at the Life Café and invite all our friends. Mark was even flying in from New Mexico with his family. I was only sorry that Angel and Collins and Roger and Mimi could not be there but I knew that they were there in spirit.

Joanne came home a few days later and we all welcomed her with open arms. I helped her settle on to the couch where she immediately insisted on getting out her laptop and getting started on all of the work that she had missed. After a while of having her around the house, Joanne started interfering with my daytime activities. Sure it was fun to watch the Soaps together but when I needed to do laundry, or clean or get dinner ready and she had an entirely different thing on her mind, it became annoying. But I soon got a welcome reprieve when Joanne returned to the office.

**Joanne's POV **

It was great to finally be home and get back into our pattern of life. Things got back to normal, but it was a different kind of normal. We were more cautious now and more protective of each other. Maureen and I were inseparable for a while but then she got tired of having me around and sitting around at home in front of my laptop or the TV became boring. Finally after a week of rest at home, the doctor gave me clearance to go back to work. That first day back sparked a lot of memories of 9/11. As I settled back into my morning routine, I couldn't help but wonder if something like what happened on 9/11 could happen again. But I was soon distracted by the colossal amount of left over paperwork on my desk. They had tried to get other lawyers to take over some of my cases while I was in the hospital, but there was a lot of paperwork only I could do.

I went home at 6pm to find Maureen and the kids' already eating dinner. I pulled off my coat and grabbed a plate and joined them at the table. We talked and I quizzed the girls on the state capitols and multiplication tables. After dinner, Maureen announced that she had a special movie for us to watch. Once we settled on the couch, Maureen put in the video and it turned out the movie that we were watching was very familiar, _Today For U: Proof Positive. _I watched the movie with a big smile on my face we were so happy and vibrant in those days. As I watched the scenes with Maureen and me, I looked over at Maureen who was engrossed in the movie and had Megan on her lap and Rachel cuddled up next to her. Boy had she grown up since those days when she was leading me in the Tango that was our relationship. My thoughts were interrupted by Katie pulling on my sleeve.

"Mommy was funny wasn't she?" asked Katie

"No, she was crazy!" laughed Rachel

"She still is" I replied and was rewarded for my little comment by a swat on the back from Maureen.. Then she got up and went to put the girls to bed. After she returned to the living room, she snuggled up next to me on the couch and we ended up spending the next hour making out. We only stopped because it was getting late and I needed to get up early for work the next morning. We continued our make out session in bed until I had to stop because it was too late and if we were to go any further, we would probably not get any sleep at all. As I lay in bed next to Maureen, I thought of how well things were going. Things were perfect. _Finally _

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Thanks! **


	9. Surprises

**Thanks for the reviews! **

**Getting all those reviews motivates me to write more.**

**Happy belated birthday to the original Maureen, Idina Menzel!**

**Surprises **

**Joanne's POV **

Time flew by fast and before I knew it the holidays had come around. This year the holidays meant so much more to me then ever before because I could have easily not been alive to see them. Maureen and I were busier then ever with holiday preparations. Maureen was being very secretive these days and I wondered if she had some big secret that she was hiding from me. I began to get more suspicious of this on Christmas Eve when my parents invited me to dinner without inviting Maureen or the kids. This was strange since they usually invited my whole family out and they usually spent Christmas at Palm Beach. Before we left the apartment, my mother slipped a bandanna over my eyes.

"Mom, what are you doing?" I asked

"You'll find out soon enough, now come on or we're going to be late" she replied

"Late for what?" I asked

"You'll see" she told me

My parents led me out to their car and then we were off to this secret place they were taking me. After a while I felt the car stop and heard my mom open the car door. They led me out and then led me into a building and removed the bandanna. I found myself in a dark room with my parents standing next to me. Suddenly, the lights were flipped on and I could see that I was at the Life and that all of my friends and family were there. The restaurant had been decked out in Christmas decorations and all of the tables had been pushed together. I noticed that the stage was set up for a concert and I wondered if Maureen was going to be singing tonight.

Suddenly I heard someone say. "Hey Joanne, smile!"

I turned to see Mark next to me, camera in hand. I quickly hugged him and said hello to his wife.

"It's so great to see you!" I told Mark.

Then I went over to Maureen who had been talking to Rich and took her out into the alley. Once we were out in the alley, I gave her a long passionate thank you kiss. As we pulled away, I felt something cold hit my shoulder and I looked up to see that it was snowing out. I kissed Maureen again and then we headed back inside to continue partying.

**Maureen's POV **

As soon as we walked back in, we brushed the snow off each other and then kissed again only to hear someone shout "get a room!" at us. Then we sat down to eat dinner and catch up with all our friends. After dinner had been cleared away, it was time for my next surprise. The lights dimmed and the stage curtains were pulled away to reveal a movie screen. We then saw Angel's face on the screen; Angel was out of drag and in the hospital so I knew that this must have been part of the footage that Mark had shot of each one of our deceased friends leaving messages for the survivors during their last days. . Mark had edited the footage of their messages for Joanne together to create this film. After the movie ended and the lights were back on, I could see that Joanne had been crying. But I could tell her tears were happy tears because she smiled at me and then hugged Mark to thank him for the video.

Mark then took the microphone announced that I was going to do a special performance of my protest song " Over The Moon" since this was the anniversary of the day that I originally sang it. I didn't really know if I could still do it after all of these years, but for my pookie, I gave it a try. Joanne handed me a cowbell and I headed up to the stage to begin. The words came naturally to me and it was actually easier then I thought. After I had finished, Joanne came up to the stage and kissed me again and then thanked me for planning the party and everyone for coming. After that, the music was turned up and the dancing started. Before we knew it, we found ourselves dancing on the tables again. We partied long into the night and my parents took the girls home so that we didn't need to leave early or anything.

We left the party slightly drunk but very happy. The apartment felt unusually quiet and we decided to take advantage of the child free evening. After we had finished with some last minute preparations for tomorrow morning, we cuddled up on the living room couch in front of the fireplace. When our kisses began to get more passionate, we decided to move to the bedroom so we wouldn't run the risk of getting carried away and being found in a less then flattering state by the girls and my parents the next morning. We made love slowly and passionately that night with all of the love that we felt toward one another coming out. After we had finished, we got up and threw on some pajamas knowing that Joanne's parents were going to bring the girls home in a few hours and that the girls might wake us up by barging into our room like they had every Christmas morning since we could remember. We finally fell asleep snuggled up to each other after one of the best days of our lives.

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	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry about the wait! **

**Epilogue:**

**September 11, 2002**

**Joanne's POV**

It's been a year since two planes hit the World Trade Center and my life was changed in an instant. After that horrible day, our old mantra of "No Day but Today" had some new meaning. When we were young and still living in the East Village trying to survive, that phrase had to do with AIDS. Now it had to do with living each day to the fullest because we never knew if another terror attack was around the corner. Our little family had been reunited in a way this year. Mark and his family moved back to New York and happened to move into an apartment in our building. We were in for another surprise when Maureen ran into Benny in the laundry room of our building. It turned out that he and Alison were our neighbors as well. We have made amends with Benny since then and Alison turned out not be the spoiled rich girl that we had made her out to be so many years ago.

Today, we are all going back to the World Trade Center site or ground zero as they call it. We arrived there at eight in the morning to find places to stand for the memorial ceremony. Mark was filming a segment for the Today show about the one year anniversary so he was able to get us good spots for the ceremony.

The ceremony started at the exact time that the first plane hit with a moment of silence. I guess that Maureen saw my lip start to quiver because I felt her arm slip around my waist. After the moments of silence, they started reading off the names of the people who had died. Most of the names had been those of strangers but one was very familiar. William Jenkins. Bill, the other lawyer, the one who had convinced me to escape. I found Bill's wife and children afterwards and thanked them. I told his wife that he was a good person and about what he did that day. His wife seemed satisfied to know that her husband was a hero and even though it didn't stop the pain from the loss, it made her feel better. After she walked away, I felt all the emotions from last year start to come back and suddenly I was overcome with tears. Suddenly I felt someone tugging on my coat, it was Katie and she had a concerned look on her face. I picked her up and just cried into her coat. It must have been quite a sight, Joanne Jefferson, high powered attorney crying into the coat of a six year old. Maureen went over and took Katie out of my hands and put her arm around me and handed me a tissue.

"Let's go home baby" she whispered

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